West Texas A&M Lady Buffs gear up for Division II national soccer tourney

For the first time since 2009, the West Texas A&M Lady Buff soccer team has reached the NCAA Division II Tournament.

The Lady Buffs (13-6-1) are set to take on Metro State (13-5-2) in the opening round Friday at Austin. The winner will face St. Edward’s on Sunday.

“We’re excited that we got into the national tournament,” WT coach Chad Webb said. “I am extremely proud of the girls for winning the Lone Star Conference. They whole environment of that tournament was great.”

Webb said the momentum of the LSC tournament victory could propel WT to a win.

“They’ve got a lot of excitement and a lot of good feelings going into this tournament,” Webb said. “I actually like our matchup against Metro State. All the teams that make the national tournament are great teams. I like the idea of WT facing Metro State. A few years ago it happened a few years in a row, and Metro won every one. I’m thinking maybe we can be the WT team that beats a Metro team.”

Webb said the offense has been the best part of the team, but the whole team is starting to click.

“We consistently have scored goals,” Webb said. “That’s been something that we’ve done all night. There was one game all year that we got shut out. Defensively we’ve sewn things up later in the season. Now we are attacking and defending well and the goal keeping is pretty good.”

Leslie Briggs leads the team in goals with 19.

“The one great thing about soccer is that it’s a team sport,” Briggs said. “I do have a lot of the goals, but at the same time I have had a lot of help. I’m looking forward to the postseason. If we go out and play like we have been, there isn’t any doubt that we shouldn’t at least make a good run for this.”

Briggs said if the Lady Buffs play the way she knows they can, they can win.

“It’s a big deal,” Briggs said. “In preseason we weren’t even ranked to make it into the NCAA tournament. Coming from being ranked sixth preseason to being first in both the conference tournament and the conference season is a big deal. We are ready to show some teams what we’re made of.”